The Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said in the hadith of Ibn Abbas, “If you take care of the commands of Allah, Allah will take care of you (and you will find Allah with you).”

How does that happen? Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali explains the hadith:

1. If you take care of Allah's commands and prohibitions, Allah will take care of you by keeping you away from vain desires and doubts in Imaan (Belief);
2. If you take care of the commands of Allah when you are young, Allah will take care of you in your old age;
3. If you take care of the commands of Allah, Allah will take care of your children.

As an example of the last point Ibn Rajab gave the story of Musa and al-Khidr. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) says in the Quran, “Then they both (Musa and al-Khidr) proceeded, till, when they came to the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them. Then they found therein a wall about to collapse and he (Khidr) set it up straight. (Musa) said: ‘If you had wished, surely, you could have taken wages for it!’” [18:77] Then Al-Khidr explains why he fixed the wall for free in a town whose people were so mean and inhospitable, “And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not hold patience.” [Al-Quran 18:82]

From this story we learn that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) took care of the orphans because their father was righteous! These orphans were not old enough to be considered righteous or not, but the reason that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) took care of their treasure was because their father had been a righteous man. Since the father had passed away, Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) protected the man’s children by sending al-Khidr all the way just to fix that wall. So if you are righteous, not only will Allah take care of your children while you are alive, but He will take care of them after you die too. What’s better than that? Therefore, we need to take the commands and prohibitions of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) seriously.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “He is not one of us who calls for asabiyyah, (tribalism/nationalism) or who fights for asabiyyah, or who dies for asabiyyah.” [Abu Dawud]

On one occasion during the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam), a party of Jews conspired to bring about disunity in the ranks of the Muslims after seeing the Aus and Khazraj harmonious with each other within Islam. A youth from among them was sent to incite remembrance of the battle of Bu'ath, where the Aus had been victorious over the Khazraj. He recited poetry to stir their feelings, remind them of their past differences, and bring about division between them. As a result there was a call to arms. When the news reached the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) he said, "O Muslims, remember Allah, remember Allah. Will you act as pagans while I am present among you, after Allah has guided you to Islam, and honoured you thereby and made a clean break with paganism; delivered you thereby from disbelief; and made you friends thereby?" When they heard this they wept and embraced each other. [The Roots of Nationalism In The Muslim World]

Islam is a religion that abhors racism, ethnicism, tribalism, and its newer version, nationalism. Differences of language, colour, cuisine and accent were meant to add flavour to life, not to be used to ridicule or fight each other. The past couple of centuries have seen wars between different ethnic groups on a scale unprecedented before. The rise of nationalism has resulted in bitter conflict between groups that had lived for centuries in harmony. It has set the world on fire and resulted in pandaemonium.

While Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has prohibited nationalism, Muslims are killing one another and aiding non-Muslims to kill their brothers and sisters in Islam, in the name of saving their own "country". This is despite the fact that such "countries" have no legitimacy in Allah's eyes for the reasons that 1) in none of these is Allah's law held wholly superior to man made law, and 2) there is only one country to which all Muslims belong, i.e. Dar-ul-Islam. Muslims, for thirteen centuries were one bloc, under one leadership, in the name of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). When you cut an elephant into 100 pieces you don't get one hundred elephants, instead you get a bloody mess. Incited against each other using nationalism, this is what the Muslim Ummah has become.

Monday, November 2, 2009

New semester has started and we got an arab lecturer teaching us this time round. His name is Dr Abdoun Osman and he is from Sudan.

This semester will be much focused on communication skill as the level implies (kelas komunikasi tahap 1) and so far the first two classes has been good. The conversation/text can be considered to be easy to follow. We have to read and understand the text and then each one of us will have to memorize and read/act out the text. It was kinda fun although it is a little bit hard on the memorizing part but with a little determination, it can be done. Hopefully all the students have the istiqamah to stay on until the end of the semester. On the first class, we have around 15 students but the number increases in the second class to around 25 students.

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “How lucky is that man who adopts humbleness without having scarcity, who considers himself inferior without having to beg for anything, who spends his own earned money in the right causes without disobeying Allah, who is kind to those having little means, and
who remains in the company of learned men.” [Tibrani]

In this hadith we are told who an enviable person is:

1. A person who is humble despite having that which makes people proud.
2. A person who earns and spends in the path of Allah.
3. A person who is kind to those less privileged.
4. A person who benefits from the companionship of the learned.

Having wealth does not make one lucky; but having earned it honestly, by one's own hands and, moreover, having spent it on those things which earn Allah's pleasure, while obedient to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala), are what entitles one to be counted among the lucky. Wealth that is accompanied by arrogance and ignorance (ignorance of what will earn Allah's pleasure), is extremely unlucky.